Fitness center to fill in last big gap at Graceland

After several years of waiting, Columbus developer Casto believes it finally has secured the final piece of the Graceland Shopping Center puzzle.

After several years of waiting, Columbus developer Casto believes it finally has secured the final piece of the Graceland Shopping Center puzzle.

Casto said last week that it has signed Global Fitness Holdings of Lexington, Ky., to build an Urban Active fitness center on the site of what used to be Burlington Coat Factory, which has been empty since 2004.

Global Fitness plans to raze most of the old structure and construct a 48,000-square-foot gym to open in the first quarter of 2009.

The generic white Burlington building has been a blight on the otherwise successful reprisal of the '50s-era shopping center. Casto began to revitalize Graceland in late 2004 with the opening of Kroger Marketplace. Since then, several new tenants, including Target, Office Max and Buffalo Wild Wings, have followed.

But the former Burlington building, which anchors the western end of the center, has sat empty, awaiting the right user. Global Fitness believes it's the one, and it will add the Graceland location to the state-of-the-art fitness centers it has built in or near Hilliard, Powell and New Albany. It has another planned at Polaris.

"Graceland is a great area for us," said Sean Phillips, a Global Fitness vice president. "It definitely meets our demographic requirements. It's absolutely where we want to be."

Global Fitness entered central Ohio last year with the intention of building several Gold's Gym fitness centers. Since then, it has broken off from Gold's and is building its own brand with Urban Active.

Casto officials did not comment on the project.

The gym will compete with Victory Fitness, which has a smaller, women's-only operation at Graceland. Phillips said he thinks Urban Active will appeal to a larger market because it offers more amenities, such as a pool, indoor track and exercise room that plays full-length movies throughout the day.

Phillips said Global Fitness will lease 5,000 square feet at Graceland as an "active preview center," which will be used as a sales center and temporary gym. That would leave a vacant Taco Bell building as the only remaining available space left at Graceland.

"They were waiting for the Morse-Bethel connector, and (Graceland) kind of sat there," Boring said. "Clintonville has always had outstanding demographics for retailers: high household income, a lot of professionals and a lot of families.

"I think it's a good use. It's not impulse retail."

Condo auction

Looking for a bargain? A Franklin County court has cleared the way for an auctioneer to offer several dozen distressed Whitehall condos at a starting price of $13,000 each.

Gryphon Realty will auction 49 Woodcliff Condominums units on April 8, trying to raise money for one of the creditors of condo owner and landlord Thomas Olander. Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Michael J. Holbrook ordered the sale. The mortgages are held by First Community Bank of Whitehall, which is where the auction will be held.

Olander has been jailed for failing to maintain the property, which has more than 300 residences.

Gryphon Realty co-founder Richard Kruse said the 1,200-square-foot condos going up for auction near Hamilton Road and E. Broad Street "most definitely need some type of rehab" but that interest is keen.

"We've gotten response across the board," he said. "Some calls came from tenants who live there and want to buy their unit. Some are from other investors that already own property in the complex. We've gotten interest from investors who might want to buy a couple units and some interested in buying all 49."

San Margherita plans

Medical offices could be in the offing sometime soon near the West Side crossroads known as San Margherita.

A partnership that includes Brexton Construction's Tim Galvin is petitioning the Columbus City Council today to change zoning on a 4-acre tract at San Margherita in Norwich Township. Galvin said the group would like to develop the site, near Raymond Memorial Golf Course, for medical offices.

"That area begs for some decent health-care development," he said.

Brexton is building a 19,000-square-foot medical office building near Grady Memorial Hospital in Dublin. Galvin said the San Margherita site would comfortably hold two buildings of that size.

He said the company won't begin building until the zoning is changed and it has tenant commitments for half that space.

Mike Pramik covers development for The Dispatch. Contact him at mpramik@dispatch.com or by fax at 614-461-5107.

The gym will include a pool, indoor track and exercise room that plays full-length movies, a spokesman said.